TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued # 13

 By Mark Rodriguez

Mr. Ogg has returned to cause trouble for the Turtles with the Ogg-A-Lympics, a best two-out-of-three contest. If the Turtles lose, Ogg will destroy them. After the Turtles defeated a dragon using dancing to entertain the crowd, Ogg's second challenge is to have the Turtles face other versions of themselves. Mirage Leo, IDW Jennika, 2012 Mikey, 2003 Donatello and Rise Raphael appear as their opponents. What will happen next?

"The Good, The Bad, and the Ogg-ly (The Ogglympics Part 2)" opens with Mr. Ogg announcing the Turtles going up against themselves in front of a crowd. Raphael points out that there are five of the other Turtles and asks if they can get Mona Lisa to even the odds. Ogg says they should embrace being the underdog and the first team to get a KO wins.

Leonardo points out that if the other Turtles are like them, they will work together. Ogg says if they don't put their all into this, they will be erased from existence. Leonardo tells the team they just have to stick together, and Ogg splits everybody up.

The two Michaelangelos are sent to a futuristic setting. The two Donatellos are sent inside some sort of spaceship. Raphael and Mirage Leonardo are sent to a prehistoric setting. Leonardo and Jennika are sent to the snowy mountains. 

Jennika starts attacking Leonardo, while he tries to convince her that they should work together. Jennika asks why he wasn't taught to use his swords offensively. Leonardo tosses some snow in her face and says they should help each other. Jennika elbows him in the face saying he's living in a fantasy world.

Raphael and Mirage Leonardo fight it out, while Raph complains about the edgy dialogue. Just then dinosaurs arrive to attack them both. Mirage Leonardo leaps in and takes care off the dinosaurs off panel in violent ways that disturb Raphael. With the dinosaurs dealt with, Mirage Leonardo says they can continue their fight, and Raph is dreaming if he thinks he stands a chance.

The two Donatellos fight, and one doesn't have an advantage over the other. 2K3 Donatello says he probably couldn't win without cheating, but he can't do that without the other Donatello suspecting it. 80's Donatello says there's all sort of tech they could possibly use to help. 2K3 Donatello says Ogg wouldn't send them to someplace that could be used against him. Both Donatellos agree they can't decide this themselves, so they will have to leave it up to the others.

Meanwhile, both Michaelangelos wonder if they should start fighting. 80's Michaelangelo says that Ogg never specified a time limit, so they can get some pizza first. As both of them decide to get some pizza, the crowd starts to boo. The devil on Ogg's shoulder tells him they're the antagonists in the story so they can cheat all they want. Ogg tells him that he already has the advantage and tells him to continue to watch.

Both Michaelangelos enjoy their pizza and 80's Mikey is glad they resolved their differences. 2012 Mikey says maybe he just lulled him into a false sense of security to make it easier for them to win. 80's Mikey then remembers that there were 5 Turtles. Just then Rise Raph appears behind 80's Mikey and sends him flying with a punch. Michaelangelo is sent flying through the 'panels' of the different fight scenes the others are in and lands in the snowy area in front of Leonardo and Jennika. Mr. Ogg considers this a KO and so his side wins. 

Leonardo admits their loss and tells Ogg to send the other Turtles home. Ogg says they were figments of his imagination since actual crossovers require a lot of paperwork. 80's Donatello says they felt so real, and 2K3 Donatello says that dreams are like that. 80's Donatello says that Mr. Ogg doesn't deal with dreams. Just then the alternate Turtles turn into Creepy Eddie.

Eddie explains that Ogg told him to impersonate the other Turtles to prevent them from teaming up. He wasn't supposed to hurt them, but now that all has been revealed, Eddie is planning to destroy them. The angel and devil on Ogg's shoulders tell him that Eddie has double-crossed them. 

Mr. Ogg traps Creepy Eddie in a glass jar before he can hurt the Turtles. Ogg tells the Turtles that he wouldn't let him destroy them while they're tied one to one. After Ogg wins, then he will be the one to destroy them. Leonardo says he won't stand for this and calls for the final challenge.

Ogg takes out a copy of TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures issue 1 and reminds them of the time they were trapped in a VR game fighting copies of their enemies. This time Ogg intends to bring the bad guys over for real, but from their past, present and future. 

The Turtles are now surrounded by Shredder, Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang, Baxtet Stockman and his computer friend, Slash, Tempestra, Lord Dregg, Chrome Dome, Slash, Wingnut and Screwloose and some new bad guys. 

My Thoughts-

I have to admit it was disappointing to find out that the alternate Turtles were all Creepy Eddie impersonating them. I guess it does make sense since in reality the Turtles would agree to work together rather than fight. I have to say it is interesting how even when Jennika refused to use any alternative other than fighting, 80's Donnie was still able to talk 2K3 Donnie into a stalemate. Eddie didn't just have 2K3 Donnie break character and continue to insist on fighting anyway. Another thing about Eddie being told not to hurt the Turtles is that it helps explain why Mirage Leo and Jennika didn't just hack and slash Raph and Leo to bits.

I did have to say, even though Eddie pulled the trigger, so to speak, Ogg got some payback on Michaelangelo, seeing as he was the one that helped the Turtles beat his first challenge.

As for the bad guys from past, present and future, we do see that Lord Dregg is in there, and this comic series does seem to take place before the Red Sky seasons. We also have a new female villain there. From what I've seen in upcoming solicits, the Turtles will be facing the 80's version of The Pantheon, and this woman will be one of them. 

Another thing, based on some of the alternate covers of the following issue, the Turtles will also face Tiger Claw. For those that don't remember, there was a short moment in the 2012 show where Tiger Claw was trapped in the 80's cartoon world for a brief moment and did fight his way past the Turtles before going back home. This is a clever callback to that.

Not really sure who would qualify as 'bad guys from the past' though. Maybe the pre-mutated Baxter, the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang and Bebop and Rocksteady's old gang? 

The comic is sure getting a lot more mileage out of Creepy Eddie and Mr. Ogg than the original show ever did, since both only appeared in one episode. Only the 80's Turtles would combine a Pee-Wee Herman parody with a Freddy Krueger parody. It was surprising to see Eddie behind this, but re-reading the issue, both Ogg and the alternate Turtles kept saying things were 'a real dream', 'a real nightmare' and a 'fantasy world'. I guess they couldn't resist dropping those hints.

I wish the crossover would have lasted longer. Personally I would have had the alternate Turtles and the 80's crew size each other up a bit before deciding to work together and then have Ogg bring in all the villains. I mean, there's more than enough bad guys to go around for all nine Turtles to fight. We'll see how this wraps up next issue.